Doc Rivers listens, then tries to turn page

ORLANDO, Fla. — They talked, and Doc Rivers took in all of Ray Allen’s issues and complaints — the reasons the Celtics guard decided to sign a contract with Miami Friday night.

The Celtics coach didn’t agree with much that he heard, but he listened. And he moved on. The Celtics now have to sign another shooting guard. That’s his priority.

“Our relationship won’t change,” Rivers said while attending last night’s summer league practice at Rollins College. “Just because I disagree or I’m disappointed in Ray’s decision doesn’t change the way I feel about him.

“He talked to me. It was a good talk,” he said. “You know how I am. A guy makes his mind up, I’m not going to try and change it. I respect him for all he did for us, and I thought he should have stayed with us. Actually, you just have to let it go.”

Rivers, as such, has no regrets, even if he never had a sense of Allen’s final decision.

“I didn’t. I didn’t know one way or the other,” he said. “I just knew financially that we were in a better position. But he had his reasons for leaving, and I’m sure he’ll express those with you guys. No, I didn’t agree, but that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what I think. I just wish we could have found a way, and we didn’t. Always put it on us — it’s easier.”

Rivers finished the conversation with the vague impression that Allen felt he should have been courted more by Celtics management, but that didn’t give Rivers cause to second guess the team’s approach.

Far from it.

Asked about the process of recruiting someone who has been a Celtic for the last five years, Rivers smiled.

“We recruited,” he said. “We couldn’t fly him to Miami because he was in Boston, but other than that we recruited him just as hard.”

Looking back, Rivers believes the Celtics had their priorities exactly right, moving from an agreement with Kevin Garnett to calling Allen at midnight on July 1 — the first day under the collective-bargaining agreement that teams were allowed to talk to free agents.

Garnett was the exception because he was eligible for an extension. Contact with any of the Celtics’ other free agents, such as Allen and Brandon Bass, was held off until July 1.

“I thought we (courted Allen). Danny (Ainge)in particular did exactly what he should have done,” said Rivers. “Kevin Garnett was our focal point, and he should have been. If that got anyone ruffled, then that’s probably too bad. We did everything we were supposed to do. At the end of the day you just follow the money trail, and in this case, for whatever reason, it didn’t work. He had his reasons. He probably got bent sideways a bit by us courting Kevin. I really don’t know, honestly.

“But at the end of the day he was great for us here, and that’s all you can say,” he said. “Clearly we would have liked him to stay with us, but I respect Ray, and that will never go away.”